


Layers

by penscritch



Series: Wizardess Heart collection [12]
Category: Shall We Date?: Wizardess Heart+
Genre: Christmas Shopping, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 19:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5510468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penscritch/pseuds/penscritch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas shopping comes with complications, mostly in the form of potential frostbite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Layers

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2015 WH Secret Santa exchange. Thank you _the-spellsinger_ , for giving me such cute Lulias ideas! I enjoyed writing this a lot for the Secret Santa and I hope you enjoy reading this. <3

Elias shivered, though he tried not to look like he was. He should have felt quite toasty considering all the clothes and layers he put on but Elias never did feel warm enough during the winter. He’d dressed especially warmly today too, his thick woolen overcoat probably a good five pounds if he didn’t count the scarf he wore – he’d gotten it from the academy’s memorabilia shop and it was also made of heavy wool. The school emblem glittered at him from one end, stitched in fine gold thread.

He rubbed gloved hands together and breathed, holding them close to his face. Maybe it would do something for his nose, which he couldn’t feel.

Elias walked down the cobbled stone of the school’s walkways to the main gate. Today was one of the rare days given to students to explore town and Elias intended to make full use of it. There were a lot of presents he needed to give to his family, friends, and acquaintances. Even Luca, whom he’d somehow entered into a relationship with. He was still half sure it was a bad idea though they’d been going out for a year already.

In the distance, leaning against the gatepost, he could see Luca’s figure straighten and casually wave.

“Yo, Elias.”

“Luca,” greeted Elias, noting the long brown coat Luca wore. It was almost drab, saved only by an underlying rich color that transformed it into a shade like varnished wood. The gold buckles shone in the dim winter sunlight, highlighting delicate etchings.

Luca looked good, but past the initial rush of embarrassment Elias found himself concerned with another matter.

“Why aren’t you freezing?” Elias asked – or chattered, if he had to be honest. He did his best to clench his jaws tight and keep his teeth from clacking, brows furrowed as he stared at Luca’s coat. It looked like something someone would wear for a mildly chilly day in autumn rather than a snowy day in winter.

Luca, that insane idiot, just shrugged. His hands were still in his pockets but he drew out one to show a paper-wrapped steaming object of some kind before he dropped it back inside.

“What is that?”

“A sweet potato,” Luca said. “I’ve got one in each pocket.”

When Elias just blinked at him, dumbfounded, he burst into laughter.

“Oh man, your face,” he said, bent over with the force of his cackling. He broke off at Elias’ glare, though he was still chuckling when he explained. “Geez, I’m stopping, I’m stopping. No need to freeze your face like that. Okay, so you know how a lot of people like to eat sweet potatoes and yams and such for Christmas? Well, it gets cold outside so some people got it into their heads to bring some freshly-baked ones in their pockets. That way they’d be able to heat their hands and have a snack ready at the same time.”

“It’s a tradition?” asked Elias, still eyeing Luca suspiciously. He wasn’t sure of it was some kind of Luca-ism or a genuine habit of common people.

“Yeah, it is. I’m actually planning on eating my sweet potatoes later. Shopping is pretty tiring, y’know.”

“Mmm,” Elias agreed. He had a sizeable stash of candy in his pockets for just that reason. Still, hot sweet potatoes or not, it made him cold just _looking_ at Luca. The wool under his hands felt more like fabric than anything else and was just as thin. He rubbed the weave of his sleeve between thumb and forefinger and said almost accusingly, “You should be cold.”

“I’m really not,” Luca said. “I’ve had practice, is all.” There was something almost bleak beneath his grin, but before Elias could ask he stepped uncomfortably close.

“W-What?!” stammered Elias, flushing.

“You’re cold, right?” Luca’s smirk was sly and distinctly suggestive. “Want me to warm you up?”

He leaned over, leering.

Elias pushed a hand firmly into his chest. “No, thank you.”

Luca grinned even wider when he saw spots of red staining Elias’ fair skin. “Awww, you sure? You’re like a shy little girl, you know.”

Elias glowered at him. Oops. Maybe that was taking it a bit far. “I thought we agreed to be circumspect about this. There’s no need to ridicule me. I _am_ cold. What’s wrong with that?”

Elias whirled around and stomped through the slush down the path towards town, jaw clenched.

Luca watched him with an unconscious pang. He didn’t mean to tease him so much. The dark blue of Elias’ clothes brought out the violet in his eyes and the bright crest the shimmers of gold. He stood out against the white of the snow. More than anything, he’d wanted to take Elias’ face between his hands and kiss him. Or draw him, at least.

He’d distracted Elias from noticing his own fascination a little too well, it seemed.

Sighing, he pulled off his scarf.

“Wait,” he said.

Elias turned around. Luca looped his scarf over Elias’, wrapping it tighter and tucked the ends under.

“There.”

Elias blinked at him, face flushed. Or what he could see of it, between the scarves piled so high around his neck it muffled the lower half of his face and the the fluffy cap of hair.

“Pfft,” he tried to stop. But it was too late. “Bwahahahaha!”

“Ugh,” Elias said disdainfully. It did nothing to hide his embarrassment at Luca’s laughter or his gratitude at the lending of an extra layer, though.

“I’m sorry, I really am,” Luca gasped, ineffectually trying to press his laughter back with a hand, “but seriously, you look like a demented mushroom.”

Resigned to the loss of his dignity, Elias could only scowl. Or at least Luca assumed he was scowling beneath those scarves. He was too adorable for words.

“Man, I haven’t laughed like that in a while,” he said, grinning, and wrapped an arm around Elias’ shoulders. He noted the deeper red of Elias’ skin and grinned wider.

“Come on,” he said, gently steering him down the street. “I know this café that has great hot chocolate.”

Elias made a disgruntled agreeing noise as though under duress, but he still leaned into Luca’s touch. He knew that this was Luca’s way of apologizing. They had many presents to buy between their combined lists and he didn’t want to waste their time on another argument. He fished his list out of his pocket and began to strategize, trusting in Luca to lead them through the crowds safely.

Elias never looked up until they arrived at the café but if he had, he would have been surprised to see Luca’s smile, soft as he gazed at Elias, whose brows were furrowed in concentration.

Christmas was a time to celebrate with those people most precious to you and Luca had no intention of wasting a bit of it.

**Author's Note:**

> I headcanon that Luca is pretty tolerant to cold, since he got shut up in an attic in his childhood without a lot of heating. Schuyler could bring him blankets and some toys but I imagine he had difficulty making a fully child-appropriate space since there were a lot of people watching his every move and suspecting he was harboring the princess’ illegitimate child (which he was). So Schuyler had to be very careful and skimp on a lot of things to make sure they didn’t catch on and assassinate Luca. 
> 
> On the good side, this means no one knows Luca’s real heritage and he can carry on being fluffily in love with Elias for the rest of his life without anyone trying to kill him. XD


End file.
